Clement emails raise questions about G8 funding

A few days before the G8 summit took place in his riding, Tony Clement indicated in an email that he would take action with federal officials whose review of unorthodox funding arrangements angered the mayor of Huntsville, documents obtained by Postmedia News show.

Mr. Clement has been under opposition fire since June, when an auditor-general’s report criticized the odd way in which the federal government spent $45.7-million on beautification projects in Mr. Clement’s Parry Sound-Muskoka riding.

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The report showed that the money for the projects was quietly redirected from a fund that Parliament approved for border infrastructure by a “special one-time exemption.”

Neither G8 summit officials nor civil servants at Infrastructure Canada could show auditors how projects were selected, and municipal documents unearthed by NDP researchers show that Mr. Clement chose the 32 projects out of his riding office, a departure from normal procedure.

Mr. Clement argues that since the projects were eventually approved by then-transport minister John Baird, everything was on the up and up.

Emails the NDP is to release Monday morning show that Mr. Clement promised to take action when officials held up payments for a review of the unorthodox allotments.

The emails were received under freedom of information laws from the town of Huntsville.

On June 22, Infrastructure Canada official Naomi Hirshberg emailed Huntsville officials to inform them that the cheques would be delayed six to eight weeks so that Carol Beal, an assistant deputy minister, could look into the payments. “The ADM of program operations has asked that Infrastructure Canada withhold all claims for review,” she wrote.

Huntsville Mayor Claude Doughty forwarded the email to Mr. Clement.

“This is totally unacceptable,” he wrote. “I am sure you agree.”

Mr. Clement responded: “I agree. I’m working on it.”

Mr. Clement did not contact officials to sideline the review, a spokeswoman for Infrastructure Canada Minister Denis Lebel said Saturday.

“Claims for major projects are reviewed by the assistant deputy minister as part of the approval process,” Vanessa Schneider said. “The department ensured a rigorous due diligence process was followed prior to issuing final payments.”

Ms. Schneider did not say whether the review proceeded as planned, delaying payment for six to eight weeks.

NDP critic Charlie Angus says it looks bad. “We have a situation where one department is saying, ‘Hold off putting out any more money until we find out exactly what’s happening.’ For Mr. Clement to say that’s not acceptable is a pretty disturbing comment and perhaps a reflection of the disregard for the normal checks and balances that should have been in place.”

The email exchanges between Mr. Clement and Mr. Doughty also raise questions about the involvement of officials from the Prime Minister’s Office in approving the unorthodox project-selection process.

In a July 2008 email, Mr. Clement tells Mr. Doughty that he has spoken to other area mayors about including them in the project-selection process.

“I’ve also initiated discussion with PMO on next steps in Ottawa,” he writes.

The email exchanges show he was pushing the PMO to keep Huntsville from losing funding for a media centre to look after the requirements of thousands of foreign journalists expected to cover the event the G8 leaders’ visit.

In December 2009, the government announced that it would hold the bigger G20 summit in Toronto, not Muskoka, so the international journalists never made the trip to cottage country, and the $16.7-million for the media centre was instead used for a new Olympic-sized rink in Huntsville.

In several emails, Mr. Clement refers to his efforts to keep the project alive with the PMO’s help.

Julian Fantino, at that time the commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, was opposed to the media centre in the high-security summit zone, which angered Mr. Doughty and Mr. Clement.

On Feb. 10, 2009, Mr. Doughty emailed Mr. Clement to complain that a local reporter had found out about a phone call from Mr. Fantino. “I appreciate your effort,” Mr. Clement replied. “We’re in this together. The good news: PMO’s fury at the OPP is only increasing.” In October 2010, Prime Minister Stephen Harper convinced Mr. Fantino to run in a by-election for the Conservatives and he now serves as associate defence minister.

The day after the summit, Mr. Doughty emails Mr. Clement to thank him for all he did for the community, and to complain about a New York Times article that suggested many of the beautification projects appeared to be done for the political benefit of Mr. Clement, who won the riding in 2006 by just 28 votes.

“I am still pissed off with the Ian Austin article,” Mr. Doughty writes.